The present invention generally relates to a disk player, and particularly to a front loading disk player having a disk conveying mechanism for automatically conveying a disk to a playing position.
A front loading disk player is known in which a disk on which PCM signals have been recorded is received in a player housing with the disk supported by a disk carrying portion provided in the housing, which disk carrying portion can be extended from and received in the housing. With this arrangement, the space above the upper surface of the disk player can be utilized for stacking other components and the like. Such a front loading disk player also includes a disk conveying mechanism, including the carrying portion described above, for conveying the disk to the playing position, that is, onto a turntable.
In a disk player in which disk playing operations are automatically performed, there is provided a clamping mechanism having a disk-like pressing member rotating with the turntable for performing a clamping action upon a disk conveyed to the playing position on the turntable.
In the normal clamped condition, the respective rotary centers of the turntable, the pressing member, and the disk are made coincident with one another. However, it sometimes happens that the disk is off center in the radial direction on the disk carrying surface at the disk carrying portion due to an error in the disk loading operation. When the disk is subsequently clamped in an incorrect position, correct reproduction of the recording on the disk may not be possible. This problem is especially prevalent in a front loading compatible-type player in which disks of several different diameters, such as an optical video disk having an outer diameter of about 30 cm and a compact disk having an outer diameter of about 12 cm, can be played. In such a disk player, it is difficult to detect erroneous clamping for a smallest diameter disk on a wider surface capable of receiving an optical video disk having an outer diameter of 30 cm.
To solve this problem, sensors can be arranged on the disk carrying surface to sense the position of the compact disk and detect when the disk has been correctly sandwiched between the turntable and the pressing member of the clamping mechanism so as to determine when the clamping operation has been completed. However, the use of numbers of the considerably expensive sensors required to implement this approach is not desirable because of cost considerations.
Further, in addition to this problem, it may happen that a disk having an outer diameter of 12 cm is sufficiently far out of position on the disk carrying surface that both the sensors provided for the 12 cm disk and for a 30 cm disk are actuated, in which case the control circuit for controlling the operation of the disk player erroneously judges that a 30 cm disk is present.